Students wait three months for degree results

Angry students at London Metropolitan University (London Met) are still waiting for their degree results, three months after final exams and more than a month after the end of a long-running dispute between lecturers and management.

Although graduates in many cases have a good idea of their degree class because of previous modules, they are being hampered in their search for work or placements by the lack of an official certificate.

Up to 2,000 new graduates are affected, although the university was unable to say how many are still without their results.

Members of lecturers' union Natfhe took industrial action, including not marking exams, in the final stages of a bitter 16-month dispute over new contracts. They were introduced after the merger of London Guildhall and the University of North London to form London Met.

"It's getting ridiculous," said Anna Carton, who hopes eventually to have her BA in interior design and technology confirmed.

"Many students are still awaiting results and are therefore still unable to include a degree grading on their CV, an obvious disadvantage in the current highly competitive job market."

Ironically her dissertation, which is awaiting moderation by an external examiner, was handed in three months earlier than in previous years."

She added: "I find it somewhat incredible that the marking process for an entire nation's worth of GCSE and A-level papers takes less time than the secondary marking of a sample of papers for one module at my university."

Last month the university apologised to students and said it hoped to finalise degree results by August 24.

But by the time the management and union had reached agreement, many staff were going on holiday and the atmosphere was not improved by the management's threat to deduct 80% of their pay (later reduced to 30%).

London Met today issued a terse statement, blaming its lecturers for the delay. "The university is working towards the finalisation of all assessment issues by mid-September and deeply regrets the delay caused to its students by industrial action on the part of Natfhe members."

Natfhe said members were carrying out marking despite not being paid for it and criticised the management for its intransigence.